Ahh, the controller. Source of great joy as it provides the tactile link between us and the action on a video game screen. And also the source of frustration as several controllers have probably been thrown due to platforming pitfalls. Many remember the evolution of the Atari joysticks to the iconic rectangular NES controller to the more ergonomic designs of controllers in newer systems.

So which controller is your favorite? Which one just feels right in your hands and allows you to play for hours without realizing it?

So far, for me, Sony's post-DualShock controllers fit the best in my hands. Nintendo's GameCube controller was fantastic as well, except for the piston-esque shoulder triggers that were sometimes hard to push. Had the shoulder triggers been button-like as in the Dreamcast's controller, it would be perfect.

I prefer smaller controllers like the dualshock controllers. When I needed a new PC controller, and everybody told me to go for a XBox 360 controller, I adamantly refused because those things are just too big. Then I found out there's a third party that makes a miniature version of the 360 controller and it's absolutely wonderful.

I don't even have that small of hands, I just like the way smaller controllers feel.

For me it was the one handed RPG controller released for the Playstation back in the day. It was the best for playing games and chugging Mt Dew

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Going back and playing NES/GEN/SNES feels like you're holding nothing.

I wouldn't say nothing for NES.Holding an NES controller nowadays for me actually becomes painful after a while.

Nintendo R&D: "Remember how the Famicom controller was just a rectangle with sharp edges?"Nintendo Exec: "Sure"R&D: "Remember how painful that would get after a while?"Exec: "Mmhmm"R&D: "Well, going with our current theme of nostalgia, we decided to remind folks of that pain with the design for the 3DS"Exec: "Love it! Make it happen."

I take that you hands had a problem with the controller because me and others never really had a problem with it. Though, in most cases the controller worked at it best with first-party and 'exclusive' games.

Xbob controllers all felt weird for me, save the original brick remote they first released for the original xbob. N64, gamecube, everything sega, wii, and wii u remotes all had button placement issues for me, so I didn't really enjoy them all too much. I always lived the snes controller, which is why I probably enjoyed all of sony's remotes too, simple design and great overall functionality, especially for fighting games and rpgs. I'm trying to like the ps4 remote a lot, but no pause button.....it's killing me. The touchpad is also very wtf-y to me right now.

I'd say my favorite controller ever would be the ps3 dualshock 3...with oddly enough a blockbust video brand gamecube controller I bought many moons back. It respaced the face buttons qnd game l and r larger triggers, very nice. Plus, the camera stick had a huge cap on it for actual use, which was awesome.

I take that you hands had a problem with the controller because me and others never really had a problem with it. Though, in most cases the controller worked at it best with first-party and 'exclusive' games.

Yeah I loved the GC controller myself, super comfy, buttons meet my thumbs nicely, cute colors (ie, not just grey or black). Ps3 I love enough too, SNES is cozy for what it was, but X360 is way to clunky for my tiny, useless, I'll-never-be-a-professional-musician hands.

If if the Xbox 360 controller had been a bit smaller, it would have been nearly perfect (for me). No complaints about the overall design. The layout works well with the more modern genres, such as shooters, and they totally get bonus points for copying the lovely coloured buttons of the SNES controller. If only my tiny, childlike hands were a bit bigger...

The first three Dualshocks... Meh, they work fine, but they don't feel like they were made for human hands in general. Nice D-pad, though, and who could hate a battery life that long? I've had my DS3 for years and it still gets 40+ hours out of one charge. This is the type of controller I prefer to play my puzzle games, 2d platformers and old-school RPGs with. It doesn't work well with games that require you to use all shoulder buttons quickly and often. Shaping your hand like the claw needed to pull that off starts to hurt really fast.

I don't have much experience with the Dualshock 4 (don't have my own PS4 yet and I can't say I need one right now), but it seems to have finally fixed the Dualshocks' biggest flaw: the shitty handles.

The Cube controller is brilliant. Making the button you use the most the largest and easiest to reach makes perfect sense and the whole thing just melts into your hands. Great shape, smart layout, fun colours. Its biggest problem is that it's too brilliant. You'll need some time to get used to it if you usually use controllers with more traditional layouts. And... I have to admit I didn't care for the D-pad very much. It's too small.

What else do I like... Oh yeah, Nintendo's Classic controllers for the Wii (U) are quite nice! The simple, clean design is very stylish and they're pretty comfortable. This is what the Dualshock should have been like. Actually, there's a Wii (U) topic on a PlayStation forum I frequent and the Classics got a lot of praise over there (someone actually bought a white Wii U because he loved the design of the original classic so much, and wanted console and controller to match). I got multiple Classics myself. My first one was the white one, which I lend to one of my cousins a while ago. She uses it for her 2D platformers. I also have a red Pro and the Super Nintendo replica (LOVE IT!).

But the number one very best controller of all time and beyond is, of course:

The Gamecube controller is certainly very comfortable and it works well for certain games, but it has a lot of limitations too. The most obvious being the lack of a second real analog stick (never quite understood Nintendo's reluctance there), but there are other issues as well. Like the lack of a full set of triggers and the oddly small and unusable d-pad (which is weird since Nintendo usually does d-pads well). The button layout if great for some things but pretty awkward for others...I wouldn't want to play a rhythm game on it, for instance. Ultimately it feels like a controller that's designed for a handful of games but really not suited for others. It's perfect for Smash Bros., though.

The 360 controller...ugh. I definitely seem to be in the minority here, but while the 360 controller is perfectly comfortable to hold I hate basically everything else about it. I think the whole asymmetric sticks thing is dumb, but more than that if you're going to do it anyway then they got it backwards. It's the right stick that needs the most precision since it's typically used for aiming so why is that the stick that's off in the corner? I also dislike the small, uncomfortable face buttons, the bumpers are just plain awful, and of course there's the horrid d-pad. I don't get why everyone seems to love this thing...

Which is not to say that dualshocks don't have issues because they certainly do. I don't like their analog sticks for starters. Not the position, that's fine, but the sticks themselves. Limited range of movement, comparatively large dead zones, and crappy convex tops that let your thumb slide around on if you're holding it in a specific direction for a while. It seems that the DS4 has finally fixed a lot of these issues but I don't understand why it took Sony four console generations to make analog sticks that don't suck.

Never really had a problem with the handles on dualshocks. The way you're supposed to be holding them is different, you let them rest in your palms rather than gripping them. Though I will admit that the grips on the DS4 are really nice.

So the DS4 might be my favorite controller, though I haven't really spent enough time with one to say that for sure.

The best d-pad in the market isn't on a controller, really. It's the Vita's d-pad. I seriously love that thing. I don't know why Sony didn't adopt that design for the DS4.